Scholarship of Application. Background: Capstone courses constitute the culminating experience in engineering curricula. A core characteristic is the student team and project-based nature, with many team deliverables. The ensuing difficulty is to fairly assess the individual team member's contribution toward the team effort. Contribution: The…

The paper argues that from a new public governance and service management perspective, local public services are best conceptualised as service systems in which users co-produce and co-design; this differentiates public from private services, which have lower of trust and shared values resulting in a goods-dominant logic and are an alternative to…

Online professional development (OPD) is gaining increasing popularity. However, online learning environments are not always considered effective venues for supporting authentic learning experiences, and the suitability of OPD for practical learning has not been widely explored. This case study paper presents findings of a pilot implementation of…

In this paper we present a professional development course designed to impact on teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching fractions. The main features of the course are the use of i) problem solving activities related with mathematical knowledge for teaching fractions ii) peer discussions and iii) monitor's interventions focused on answering…

The rapid growth of technology has had a significant effect on educational activities. As a result of this growth, a shift has taken place from a behaviorist teaching style to a constructivist perspective which enables adult learners to build up knowledge collaboratively. Mentoring, a valuable tool within the constructivism approach, can offer a…

With schools continuing to fall short of No Child Left Behind standards and with future challenges just around the corner, educators must identify and make positive changes in schools. Researchers must work to recognize and exhibit how student achievement is fostered and inform educators of options on how to move in a positive direction according…

"Foundations for Critical Thinking" explores the landscape of critical-thinking skill development and pedagogy through foundational chapters and institutional case studies involving a range of students in diverse settings. By establishing a link between active learning and improved critical thinking, this resource encourages all higher…

This article considers the implications and effectiveness of a performing arts-based pedagogy in the professional development of school leaders. It reports on the findings from a study that exposed educational leaders to methods of dramatic analysis as a means of reflecting on the ethical dilemmas found in personnel management. Through the dynamic…

In 2010, a comprehensive secondary school in the south of England implemented a whole-school approach to "learning to learn" (L2L). Drawing on a range of evidence-based practices, a team of teachers worked collaboratively to design and deliver a taught L2L curriculum to all students throughout Key Stage 3. In total, the first cohort of…

A novel professional development curriculum model has been implemented for a chemistry teacher education programme. The aim of this five-year programme is to educate future chemistry teachers as lifelong learners and researchers, capable of following developments in both chemistry and its teaching, implementing up-to-date research findings in…

Active Learning in Maths and Science (ALMS) was a six-month face-to-face professional development program for middle school maths and science teachers carried out between June and November, 2010 in two Indian states. ALMS's theory of action is grounded in the belief that collaborative learning serves as a "gateway" to learner-centered…

This dissertation, organized in chapter format, is comprised of a collection of case studies designed to explain why some teachers are not prepared to meet the challenges of the National Education Technology Plan despite the pervasive evidence of technology in our personal and professional lives. The first case study is the personal history of one…

This paper describes a study into the implementation within two Spanish primary schools of an inquiry-based curricular project entitled "Exploring Our World" (ages 6-12). Taking the form of two case studies, it offers a description of the two participating schools and the development of the project within them. Particular attention is…

Teaching science through inquiry-based, student-centered instructional methods has been consistently emphasized by science education reform documents such as the National Research Council's (NRC) "National Science Education Standards" (NSES), and practically all states have adopted inquiry standards. In order for science education…

This case study examines the learning, identity and language development experienced by "overage" 8th-grade students who have been left behind two or more years in their New York City middle school and are participating in an extended-day video documentary program. The students practise a range of literacy skills naturally embedded in…